The Padishah Mahmud of Ghasni liked to disguise himself as a beggar in the evenings to find out what his people were up to. He once came across a group of thieves.  They approached him and asked: "What kind of person are you?"

"I am like you," replied the padishah.

"Good," said the thieves, "then let everyone say what their special talent is, so that we can go stealing together successfully."

The first one said: "I can understand the dogs barking."

The second said: "I can recognise any person immediately, even if I've only seen them at night"

"I am very strong," said a third. "If I find a crack in a wall, I can tear down the whole wall."

A fourth proclaimed: "I have a good nose. If there's money buried somewhere, I can smell it."

The next thief said: "I'm a master at throwing ropes. Even if it's a very smooth and even wall, my rope will find a hold on it."

When all the thieves had revealed their talents, they turned to the disguised padishah and asked him: "Well, what talent do you have?"

The padishah replied: "I have the gift of freeing those condemned to death, all I have to do is pluck my beard."  The thieves shouted enthusiastically: "You have the best gift. If we are led before the executioner, you can free us. Be our leader!"

So they set off together. They came to a house where they wanted to break in. They heard dogs barking and the first of the thieves said: "Strange, the dogs say that the Padishah is with us."

"You're a fool, surely they mean our new leader, he's like a padishah to us because he can free convicts," said the others.

The thief, who could smell treasure, said: "There is treasure here, I smell gold and precious stones." The thief, who was a master at throwing ropes, threw a rope and everyone climbed over the wall.

The strongman dug a tunnel to the room where the treasure was and everyone crawled in.

The thieves stole as much treasure as they could carry. They left the house and buried all the valuables outside the city, only to dig them up again later and distribute them among themselves. Then they separated and each went home. The padishah learnt where each of the thieves lived, memorised their names and took a circuitous route back to his palace. There he took off his beggar's clothes, called the captain of the palace guard and ordered the thieves to be caught. He found them and brought them into the palace before the padishah. He sat on his throne and the thief, who could recognise every face, immediately recognised the beggar in the padishah and told his thief friends. Then the thieves said: "O mighty ruler. You have the right to condemn us to death. But for now, we beg you, listen to us."

"So speak," said the padishah. "Well," began the thief, who had recognised the padishah, "last night they all shared their talents and each of them proved their talent. The first translated the language of the dogs, the second smelled the treasure, the third threw the rope, the fourth dug the tunnel and I recognised you, even though you were disguised as a beggar and it was dark at night. But we haven't seen your talent yet." The Padishah became thoughtful when he heard this. Then he plucked at his beard, had the thieves pardoned and distributed the treasures among them so that from then on they could live without worry and did not need to steal again.

Märchen aus Afghanistan,©Fassung Djamila Jaenike, nach: M. Lorenz, Der Zauberbrunnen, Leipzig 1985, englische Fassung Lysander Jaenike © Mutabor Märchenstiftung